As the GM food debate in India continues, the supply and demand gap, especially of vegetable oil, is widening, and farmers are losing money due to pest attacks while using more pesticides and herbicides. Possible Sugar Imports Could Alleviate Shortages in a Few States Sugar prices have moved up after the government of India (GOI) increased the duty on raw sugar to 50 percent in July 2017. 0.5 MMT of duty-free sugar imports had previously been allowed, but a shortage has developed in some states since the imposition of the duty, especially in South India (Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh) as production there has suffered due to the lack of good rains.Tamil Nadu’s production in sugar year 2016/17 (1 October-30 September) was 1.10 M...
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...
From WPI Consulting
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.